Shelling and machine-gun fire shook the Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday for an eighth day as residents continued to flee a government offensive to crush Islamist insurgents and clan militia.Residents said Wednesday's fighting was lighter than previous days, as allied Somali-Ethiopian forces take on rebels frustrating the interim government's bid to restore central rule in the Horn of Africa nation for the first time in 16 years. "The shelling is still going on, but it is less heavy than yesterday. But it is still too dangerous to venture out," said one resident who asked not to be named. Local residents and human rights workers say nearly 300 people have been killed in a week of fighting that has focused on an Islamist stronghold in the north of the city. ... http://abcnews.go.com

Defeated French centrist Francois Bayrou has said he will not back either of the remaining candidates in the French presidential election. Mr Bayrou came third in Sunday's first round with 18% of the vote. He said he could not back either candidate as their current policies would not help the country. Nicolas Sarkozy, who took 31.2% of the vote, and Segolene Royal - 25.9% - are both standing in the second round of the election on Sunday 6 May. Mr Bayrou said he had accepted Ms Royal's offer to hold a political debate, and said he would accommodate a similar request from Mr Sarkozy should it be forthcoming. "I will not give any advice on how to vote," he said at a long-awaited news conference. When asked what his personal vote would be, he said he had not made up his mind yet. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6591461.stm

About 70 homes were evacuated and authorities briefly closed a highway early Wednesday after a wildfire spreading through a swamp moved toward communities south of Waycross. A 35-mile stretch of U.S. 1 was initially closed to traffic, though portions of the highway were later reopened, said Tracy Smith, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. The fire crossed state Route 177 and was threatening the small communities of Astoria and Braganza about three miles south of Waycross, Smith said. Waycross, a city of 15,300, was not in immediate danger, she said, though heavy smoke covered the city. Wildfires have burned 53,000 acres, or about 67 square miles, of forest parched by drought in southeast Georgia in the past nine days....http://www.cnn.com/2007/WEATHER/04/25/georgia.wildfire.ap/index.html?eref=rss_us

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert opted on Wednesday for limited military action in Gaza after Hamas's armed wing fired rockets into Israel and declared a ceasefire in the territory dead, political sources said.Ruling out a ground offensive, Olmert decided in talks with security chiefs to step up "targeted attacks" against Palestinian rocket-launching crews but refrain from going after senior militants or political leaders, the sources said. "Israel will not hesitate to take harsh measures against those who try to harm its sovereignty by firing rockets into our territory, attempting attacks on soldiers, and (by) other means," Olmert's office said in a statement after the security session. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3077539

Pakistan's security services have quietly arrested a number of suspected hardline Sunni militants in the past two months in a major bid to thwart planned attacks inside Iran, CBS News has learned from key Pakistani and Arab officials, as well as members of some of the Sunni groups. The arrests appear to be the first tangible evidence of a Pakistani response to the February militant attack in Zahedan, Iran, which left 11 people dead — all members of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard. Iranian officials blamed the attacks on members of Jundullah — Arabic for "Army of God" — a shadowy group of Sunni militants based in Pakistan, and believed to be seeking to intensify attacks inside Iran. The Zahedan attack prompted widespread concerns among senior Pakistani officials of a slide in already-uneasy relations with the government of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. ...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/25/world/main2725317.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_2725317

The unexpected outcry about the proposed construction of a wall around a Sunni Arab neighborhood has revealed the depths of Iraqi frustration with the petty humiliations created by the new security plan intended to protect them. American and some Iraqi officials were clearly taken aback by the ferocity of the opposition to the wall, and on Monday the United States was showing signs of backing away from the plan. The strong reaction underscores the sense of powerlessness Iraqis feel in the face of the American military, whose presence is all the more pervasive as an increasing number of troops move on to the city’s streets. And it has proved to be an unlikely boon for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, making the Shiite politician — at least for now — into a champion for Sunnis because he publicly opposed the wall’s construction. ...http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/world/middleeast/24iraq.html?_r=1&oref=slogin